What Are You Fighting For?
by Utsuri-chan
Summary: A collection of stories about the characters of Tsubasa. They're inspired by random events, usually. And the majority of them will most likely have some deep aspect to them.. FaixKuro, SyaoxSaku.
1. New Year

Note from Arashi: I haven't been very creative in the past

**Note from Arashi**: I haven't been very creative in the past...uh...however long it's been. A few years, probably, haha. So try not to be too harsh on me, since I'm just starting up again. I'll try my best to keep up some creative flow. In the meantime, be patient. This one will just be some mini-stories to get me going... Considering I've never finished a story, that should be good. xD Oh, and as a disclaimer…. I'm not a member of CLAMP. They wrote Tsubasa and made all of the characters in it.

What Are You Fighting For?

_New Year_

The streets of the group's current location, Nihon, were quite alive and bustling. Children were running around in kimono, winning goldfish yo-yos and playing games. There were lanterns strung along the roofs of every building, and shrines were hosting celebrations.

In the meantime, the group was found at Kurogane's home, Shirasagi Castle. Kurogane never liked all these celebrations on New Year, but Tomoyo always convinced him to at least dress up. The grumpy old ninja found himself sitting on the front steps, adorned in a red and black hakama that had a golden dragon pattern throughout the sleeves and on the bottom of the legs and a golden yellow headband. His eyes blatantly signified annoyance as he sat there, moping like a child that couldn't get his way.

The person he wanted to see least came running down the steps and almost tripped when he tried to stop next to him. The goof was wearing a blue and white hakama that Tomoyo-hime let him borrow. It also had a dragon pattern on it, but they were silver instead of gold.

"Kuro-myuu, why are you being so boring! Let's go to the festival!" Fai. The one person he'd love to kill, but instead risks his life to save. Daily.

"I hate festivals. And my name is Kurogane."

That fake grin of his spread across the magician's face. "Oh, come on, Kuro-pu! It'll be fun!" He pulled on his arm.

Before Kurogane got a chance to retort, Syaoran and Sakura came out of the castle looking absolutely amazing. Sakura was wearing a light pink kimono that had white cherry blossoms around the edges of the sleeves, and spring scenery of cherry blossom trees near the bottom. Her obi was a mixture of sky blue and violet, and had an intricate bow in the back. She also had a cherry blossom comb in her hair, topping off her beauty. Syaoran had on a forest green and beige hakama with light blue feather patterns.

Kurogane and Fai both turned around to stare.

"Fweet! Sakura-chan looks gorgeous! And Syaoran-kun goes so well with her! It's like you guys were meant to be," Fai cooed.

Kurogane sighed. At least Fai stopped paying attention to him, but there he goes with that 'fweet' thing again. "What he said."

Sakura smiled her innocent smile as she walked down the stairs toward the magician. "Aw, thank you so much! Are you two going to the festival? Syaoran-kun and I were just leaving for it." Syaoran stood next to her. "You guys should come with us."

Kurogane frowned. "I'm no-" He was cut off.

"Of course we will come! Kuronchi was just saying how excited he is to go!"

"I WAS NOT!" The ninja jumped up and raised his fists at the magician, who just smiled and started pulling him down the stairs by the wrist.

Sakura and Syaoran followed suite, and Kurogane gave up his struggle once they were at the bottom of the stairs. Fai didn't let go until they were at one of those hammer contests. Sakura and Syaoran kept going, though.

"Kuro-mi, I'm sure you could win us all toys here. Plus you'll get to show off you're manliness," followed by a muscle gesture, which Fai lacked.

Kurogane rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"Yay! Excuse me sir, my friend wants to play!!"

The guy running the game turned to Fai then to whom he was pointing, and handed the mallet to him. "Judging by your size, you'll probably win. Maybe I should start a rule of one win per person," he muttered.

The ninja stretched his arms, and then swung the mallet with one hand. The bell rang.

"Fweet! Kuro-sama's so strong!" Fai looked overjoyed, and pointed at the toy cat. "You should get that one for Sakura-chan!"

He blinked. "You weren't whining for yourself?"

"What would I do with a stuffed animal?"

"You're girly enough."

Fai fake-pouted. "Kuro-chan, you're so mean!"

Kurogane huffed and got the cat plushy down without asking, continuing to shove it in the mage's face. But the blond hugged it and smiled. "You're such a brute."

This was followed with various insults back and forth, and then they moved on. Once they ran into the kids, Fai handed Sakura the cat and told her that Kuro-myuu got it for her. She smiled so gratefully, and hugged Kurogane, who responded by patting her on the back.

When it was about ten o'clock, Fai had managed to drag Kurogane to a sake bar. You know that saying, 'You can bring a horse to water but you can't make him drink?' Yeah, that's not true. Fai managed to force one glass of sake down Kurogane's throat. The magician, on the other hand, ended up so drunk he could barely walk. Or talk, for that matter.

"Kurrrgyyyy, let's play truth-er-dare!"

"No."

"How 'bout spin-de-bottleee?"

"No."

"What time is ittt?"

"...About eleven."

"Let's go watch fireworkkkss!"

Kurogane glowered at the stumbling blond. "Can you even walk?"

"Sure I can!" A stupid grin spread across his lips, and he stumbled out of the door of the bar. Kurogane followed, finding it slightly amusing watching him trip over thin air.

But he didn't particularly want the idiot to die yet, so he walked over to him and threw him over his shoulder to carry him.

"Whhheee! Kuro-chan, giddy up!"

"Shut up until we get to the fireworks field."

Once they got there, Kurogane found where the kids were sitting and dropped Fai down next to them.

"Ouchie! Big Dog's being meannn!" Fai fake-cried.

"God, he's even worse now..."

"Uh, is he drunk?" Syaoran asked, watching Fai roll around on the ground.

"What, you need me to tell you that?" The ninja rolled his eyes.

"I guess not..." Syaoran continued staring.

"It's okay, Fai-san. Kurogane-san is just a bit annoyed right now." Sakura put her hand on the magician's shoulder, and he stopped squirming to smile at her.

He then formed a fist and hit Kurogane's legs out from under him.

"THE HELL'S WRONG WITH YOU, MAGE?!" Kurogane yelled at him as he fell flat on his back.

As the two bickered, the fireworks started to go off, and Syaoran started to hold Sakura's hand.

The fireworks made beautiful shapes, including cherry blossoms and dragons... and all the meanwhile, the ninja and the magician were hitting each other in the background.

When the night was over, Fai had ended up falling asleep on Kurogane's knee, so he carried him back to the castle over his shoulder once again.

Syaoran and Sakura looked exhausted themselves, and went straight to their rooms.

Tomoyo stopped Kurogane, though. "Is your friend okay?"

"Yeah, he passed out from sake."

"Oh, haha." Tomoyo smiled warmly at him. "Did you have fun, Kurogane?"

"As much fun as I could have, with this loaf dragging me around and little kids screaming."

She continued to smile. "I see. Perhaps next year will be better, then?"

"Eh, maybe. Depends on if this guy's still here." He pointed at Fai with his free hand.

Tomoyo looked closely at his expression, just so she could tell what he meant by that. He had the slightest smile, and his eyes weren't full of his usual malice.

Her smile brightened a bit. "Keep him around, Kurogane. He's good to you. Sleep well."

The princess turned her back to him and walked away before he could think of a response. Before she turned into a different hallway, he called out, "You sleep well, too...Tomoyo-hime."

She turned her head to smile at him, and then disappeared into her sleeping quarters.

He took Fai up to the room they were sharing with the kid, and set him down gently on the bed. He almost tossed him down, but for some reason, he didn't. He flicked a lock of that blond hair out of Fai's eye, and then before he could move, the unconscious magician grabbed his arm and hugged it.

Kurogane attempted to pull his arm away without waking him up, but of course, Fai's a bit stronger than he looks.

So Kurogane looked around, trying to think of something to do. Not much came to mind. He could wake him up, but that would be a rather noisy occurrence. He could sleep next to him, but that would be slightly awkward.

...He decided the latter was safest, and sat down on the bed next to Fai, leaning against the wall. He put his knee up and rested his head and arm on it, letting Fai hold on to the other one.

Kurogane fell asleep.

"Happy New Year, Kurogane-chi..."

The klutz was dreaming about him, now?! Tch, whatever... He didn't mind that much, anyway.


	2. Wings

Note from Arashi: On a side note, Jason Castro on American Idol is amazing, haha

**Note from Arashi:** On a side note, Jason Castro on American Idol is amazing, haha. I've never watched this show before... But anyways, I was inspired for this short one from the lyrics of Yume no Tsubasa and Tohru's thoughts from Fruits Basket. Oh, and my disclaimer. I'm not a member of CLAMP, who wrote and created all of the characters in Tsubasa.

What Are You Fighting For?

_Wings_

Sakura had been thinking about her wings that night. She was sitting next to the unconscious Syaoran, praying to whoever was out there that he would be alright. He had been hurt protecting her, when she had recklessly ran to get her feather. She felt horribly guilty. And that made her think.

A lot.

In the morning, Syaoran awoke to find her still sitting there next to him. "Hime...did you not sleep?"

"Everyone has their wings," she started. "But not everyone can see them."

He stared at her. He had been expecting her to apologize again, like she usually did. This was kind of different.

She smiled at him in a sad way. "Like they're hidden, folded up on their backs where they can't see. And they don't realize how easy it would be to unfold them and find what they've always been searching for."

"Sakura..." He wasn't sure what to say.

"I found mine, but they're broken. And you're here, helping me mend them. The least I could do is remember who you were to me..." Tears welled up in those green eyes that reminded him of spring.

And he just wrapped his arms around her. "You...you don't need to remember, Sakura-hime." She started sobbing right about then.

"I'm so sorry," she cried into his shoulder. Her own shoulders were shaking, and he held her tighter, cringing slightly, as they had both forgotten that he had indeed been stabbed the previous day.

"Don't apologize, please. A wise princess once told me that it's natural for people to worry about the ones they care about, and we should thank them. When someone cares about you enough to worry, it's a good thing."

"That princess was stupid," she hugged him tighter. "When people care, they only end up getting hurt."

Syaoran paused at that. How could she think that? He pulled her away from him so he could look her in the eyes. "That's not true, Sakura. Caring is what makes happiness in every world in the universe."

She looked into his eyes, though the tears blurred the sight. She blinked them away. "But every time you worry about me, you get hurt..."

He smiled at her. "I would tell you why, but I can't... I'll just say, I will never let you get hurt. I'll take every pinch of pain that's ever directed at you."

Tears once again welled up, and she wrapped her arms around his waist and practically fell on him. "Thank you, Syaoran..."

He patted her back, trying not to wince at the wound in his side. She did notice his muscles tense, though, and quickly sat up. "I'm so sorry! I forgot you were injured..." She wiped her tears away with her sleeve. "Did I hurt you?"

"I'm fine, hime. Thank you." He once again smiled.

Fai knocked on the door, which was open. "Hope I'm not intruding, you love birds. Good morning, though! Are you doing alright Syaoran?"

The blond did not let on any sign that he had been listening in, besides that he didn't 'notice' Sakura had been crying. His quiet smile showed little signs of dishonesty, though, and Syaoran didn't notice.

"I'm doing fine. Good morning to you, as well."

Sakura nodded and smiled weakly.

"Oh, Sakura-chan's not looking so well! Has she been crying? What did you say to her, Syaoran-kun?"

There's Fai's slightly hyperactive side again. A huff was heard from near the door, and that tall, dark ninja appeared to drag Fai off.

"Kuro-pu, have you decided to have your way with me finally?!" The magician laughed.

"Shut it, mage, It's too early for you to start in already." He pushed Fai into a chair at the kitchen table. Fai just smiled at him, then turned his head back towards Syaoran and Sakura's room.

"Hey kids, breakfast is ready, by the way!"

Syaoran stood up, and held out his hand to help Sakura up. She smiled and took it.

As she was walking out the door to the kitchen, he said quietly, "You don't have to remember, because we can just make new memories, together..."

She turned her head to him. "Hm?"

"Nothing," he smiled.


	3. Raison d'Être

Note from Arashi: This was a mixture of Chobits, Linkin Park, and talking to my friend who's like Kurogane, only slightly more

**Note from Arashi: **This was a mixture of Chobits, Linkin Park, and talking to my friend who's like Kurogane, only slightly more mellow. Haha. It's short. Like really short. But I couldn't think of any way to lengthen it, since it's one of those things that just clicks in your head... Anyways, voilà. Oh, and I don't own Linkin Park or Tsubasa.

What Are You Fighting For?

_Raison d'Être_

The stupid mage wasn't functioning. What was he to do? He'd gotten way too close, and now all this. While thoughts of his past raced through his head, he rested his chin on his arm, which both of were resting on the table. He had barely spoke at all in the past few days. Kurogane was getting sick of it. He should be glad he's alive. And thankful. But no. He's now wallowing in self-pity and guilt with a blank look in those gorgeous, blue eyes...

"Fai," came the ninja's deep voice.

"You already know, Kurogane. Ashura showed you all." Fai made no attempt to move.

And Kurogane winced. It almost stung being called his full name by the happy-go-lucky, I'm-gonna-hug-you-till-you-suffocate kind of guy he used to know. "I would say don't look back, but it would seem you have nothing else to do with yourself." He growled a bit.

There was a pause of silence. Then quietly, almost unable to be heard... "I erased myself, because Fai was the better one. I took his name, even though I didn't deserve it..."

Kurogane looked at him sideways. Suddenly, he walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. "You're alive, aren't you? You've made a new life for yourself, and you should live it for him, if no one else."

Fai rolled his head to the side and looked at him. He didn't respond, other than a light smile.

"Good. Now that we've got that settled, start being your idiotic self again." The ninja turned to walk away.

"Love you, Kuro-pu," the magician said quietly.

He stopped and looked at him sideways. "...It's Kurogane."

"You know you love it..."

"Well...No! What, are you on crack!?"

"Maybe, who knows..."

"That would explain a lot, like your missing brain cells."

"Would you get me that coat from our room?"

"Whatever." He started walking away again.

"Good doggy..." Those teasing inflections still weren't in his voice, but he decided he would try. For Kurogane. And he'd try to follow that little saying of the ninja's, about not looking back.

_Let mercy come and wash away what I've done...erase myself...and let go of what I've done... For what I've done, I start again, and whatever pain may come... Today this ends. I'm forgiving what I've done._


	4. Death and Sorrow

_And then his frail body went limp._

In that exact moment, I regretted almost everything I had ever said to him.

That **crazy**, beautiful man, and his beautiful, chaotic life, meant **so** much to me.

So I didn't want to check to see if he was still breathing. Even if his soft, golden hair was soaked in crimson liquid and he looked more pale than normal. If I checked, it could all be over.

I just stood there and looked at him, as our friends rushed in and tried to help him.

His face was peaceful, though.

Amongst all this chaos, he always looked peaceful.

And kind.

I was always so angry.

I noticed there was a tomoshirisou growing next to where his head lie. He liked that flower because it was so rare, and it was only found in the sand of Nihon. His blood was seeping towards it, and I wondered if Fai's death would cause the death of that flower.

Because I was sure it would cause the death of me.

I've lost too much.

I continued to watch, and I knew he was gone. His chest didn't rise.

I wouldn't be able to watch him sleep face down like a retard anymore.

Or act like I wanted to kill him.

Or eat soba with him.

Or be forced to eat all of the sweets he loved to bake.

Or see his smile every day.

And smile when no one was looking, because secretly, he made me happy.

They took him away from me, just like they took mom and dad.

I miss him already.

* * *

In case you couldn't tell, it's in the point of view of Kurogane.

Inspired by the loss of my papa...RIP, Gene Covert Johnson. He finally found his wings. 9/30/34-12/22/09.


End file.
